Council president: Entertainment district in Mobile should include those who want in it

"I don't want to leave any of the businesses out." - Mobile City Council President Reggie Copeland

As the entertainment district ordinance for downtown Mobile inches toward a vote, some council members -- including Council President Reggie Copeland -- believe all businesses who want in it should be included. (file photo)

MOBILE, Alabama – The president of Mobile's City Council
wants to give all the bars along Dauphin Street a shot to be included within
the proposed entertainment district.

Councilman Reggie Copeland said last week that the map should
be "fair" and that the City Council should consider if all the establishments
along the three-block area of Dauphin between Cedar and Franklin streets should
be excluded.

"I'll support it if it's fair," Copeland said on Friday. "I
don't want to leave any of the businesses out. We can't gerrymander it."

He continued, "That's part of being in an area like we have
down on Dauphin Street. I look at New Orleans and many people live above those
shops there. We have a problem with one or two (establishments) down there, but
we can work those out. Let's make this fair to everyone."

Copeland's comments represent the first from a public
official defending the inclusion of The Haberdasher and the Alabama Music Box
into the entertainment district. As proposed, those two establishments would be
the only two along Dauphin Street excluded from its boundaries.

Naude Gouws, owner of The Haberdasher, said Copeland's
comments represented a rare silver lining from a months-long battle to have
themselves included within the boundaries.

"It's better that what we've had at this point," Gouws,
said. "It's extremely hard for us to know what's going on as far as who is in
our side or who is against."

The council is scheduled to vote on its entertainment
district ordinance March 5, despite initial reports that the council could
decide on it Tuesday. The agenda for tomorrow's meeting does not include a vote
on the district.

Copeland isn't the only councilman lukewarm to the proposal
that passed the city's public safety committee last week. Councilman C.J. Small
said the only reason he'd support it is because there is a one-year sunset that
allows the ordinance to be re-examined in 12 months.

To see the proposed map for Mobile’s two entertainment districts, click here.

One of the reasons Small supports the sunset provision is
because not all downtown businesses are represented within the boundaries.

Councilman Fred Richardson, who chairs the public safety
committee, said the only people who spoke before his committee represented
people against including the controversial three-block section of Dauphin
within the district.

"The Music Box, they didn't come before us," Richardson
said. "I wouldn't waste one second with them. The Haberdasher ... they didn't
come before us. Anything else is unofficial."

Gouws said Richardson's comments are an "outright lie" and
that his girlfriend attended one of the meetings at Government Plaza. He also
said both he and Dave Mathews, owner of the Music Box, plan to speak before the
council on March 5.

Gouws is also upset over comments he said some officials
have made saying that none of the district maps pitched by the Downtown Mobile
Alliance included their establishments. The alliance has since said the proposed
map's boundaries were drawn by public input.

"All of us redrew the map over and over and submitted it by
email and physically to the Downtown Alliance," Gouws said. "Everyone has done
what we can to change their minds."

"Not is only it unfair, but it makes absolutely no sense
that you want to create something like this and cut out the middle," Gouws said.
"It makes it so hard for the bars, police, and patrons from out of town. How
will this effect Art Walk or Mardi Gras or Beer Fest when people walk with
drinks up and down Dauphin Street? They are taking something really simple and
making it difficult."